June 26
by NightcatMau
Summary: When Valkyrie and Skulduggery take a pair of American detectives out to a pub, they could never have expected their reaction to a historic announcement on TV. Gay marriage is finally legal in all 50 states, something I never thought I'd live to see.
1. June 26

A/N: I don't own Valkyrie or Skulduggery, but Calamity, Sam, Tanas and Leap are all my OCs and precious babies. The happy tears just won't stop falling. June 26, 2015 will always be remembered as the day the US Supreme Court made gay marriage legal in all fifty states. As a pansexual this is huge for me. It doesn't erase all the hate and challenges we still face, but it is a huge step forward.

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Valkyrie and Skulduggery had taken the two detectives on loan from one of the American Sanctuaries out to dinner in a Dublin pub frequented by Americans, something the pair seemed to delight in. Valkyrie liked them. They had been from a Sanctuary that opposed the American attacks on the Irish Sanctuary and had even fought on both American and Irish soil to stop the attacks. Valkyrie smiled at them, there was an American news station playing, CNN, and she reckoned it made them feel at home. "Just like in America, yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah." Calamity Cat said. She was a green-eyed, fiery redhead from Pennsylvania and she tended to dress in all black cowgirl outfits since her heroine Calamity Jane, had been a cowgirl too. She was also the only tunneling adept Valkyrie was aware of other than Billy-Ray. Thankfully they'd been able to convince her to leave her gunbelt in her room at the Sanctuary. Right now, however, she seemed to only have eyes for the TV.

Her partner, Sam Sanders, a Kentucky man and a Southern gentleman of the first order, who looked a heck of a lot like Cornel Sanders and was dressed in a white linen suit and fedora was watching the news too, intent and still like a bird dog. The rest of the pub had gone still as well and the barman, no fool, turned up the sound on the TV. Valkyrie and Skulduggery looked around, not surprised at the stillness because the pub was where a lot of Americans gathered, but they did not expect what happened next.

An excited announcer told the viewing audience that the US Supreme Court had just legalized gay marriage in all fifty states and the pub exploded into celebration. There was shouting and cheering, complete strangers hugging one another and the two detectives in the booth with them were no different. Calamity screeched in joy and she and Sam hugged one another, both crying happy tears.

Calamity was shaking and still crying when they parted. "Sorry, it's just- You don't know what it's been like. What we lived through. To see this..." She trailed off, still shaking and Sam rubbed her back soothingly.

Skulduggery smiled in sympathy at the pair. "We only recently had gay marriage legalized in Ireland as well, so we understand better than you think."

"That we do." A voice said. Tanas and Leap had entered the pub, now finally able to be married and they were already fast friends with the Americans. They hugged the pair to them tightly.

"I could never tell my parents. They were... They didn't understand." Calamity managed and Leap crooned to her soothingly as he held her.

"It's OK, sweetie, I could never tell mine either, or my family." He smiled sadly at her as they parted and Valkyrie felt sick. She wondered how people could hate their own flesh and blood for simply being what they were. She knew they hadn't chosen to be gay, and even if they had, it was still no reason for the detectives to face such hatred and to have lived in the shadows for so long.

"Hey, we should be celebrating, right? She asked, and Sam agreed as they all made room for their friends at the table. They ordered a pitcher of soft drinks and coffee for the table, and were delighted when the barman refused payment.

He gave the detectives a wink as he brought it over himself and Valkyrie was as excited as everyone else as most of the people in the bar started to sing along when one man with a rich tenor started to sing God Bless the USA.

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 **Nice to know that the country I would die to protect finally loves me at long last. We still have a long way to go. There is still so much hatred to overcome and so many rights to fight for, but this is a huge step towards equality and acceptance.**


	2. Samcat

A/N: I don't own Billy-Ray, Adepts or Elementals, but Calamity and Sam are my babies. Thanks go out to **Hellsgun EmmortalDead** for the review, fave and follow and to **DeadGirl19** for reviewing. This is some time after the first chapter, I reckon.

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Calamity Cat stared at the ramshackle structure in front of them and tilted her black Stetson back on her head as her eyes narrowed. "He _would_ hide in a place like this. Looks like it's haunted." She growled.

Sam Sanders, leaning slightly on his duck-headed cane, nodded. "Looks almost like an antebellum mansion. Boy has a romantic streak."

"Good, great. Mint juleps and all that jazz. Being a Southern boy yourself you are welcome to go in there after him." She was clearly in a bad mood over something and Sam just looked at her worriedly. It wasn't fear, he knew that. Calamity tended to shoot things that spooked her. It was anger, but over what he didn't know.

He led the way in, getting the door for her and doffing his white panama hat politely. Calamity smiled at him, then ducked her head slightly. "Sorry, Sam. It's just- I don't like fighting the only other tunneling adept out there, you know?" She asked and he nodded in sympathy.

They were about three feet into the main hall when Billy-Ray Sanguine surged up from below them, narrowly missing with his blade and Sam pushed back on the air to send the blade skittering across the dusty wooden floor, then stepped back as he fully emerged and Calamity set to work.

She grabbed Billy-Ray and drug the startled man first underground, then after a few moments they surfaced, shooting straight up from the floor to fly upwards, then they were falling and Calamity was splaying her hand at the floor and then they were crashing into it with more force than should have been possible and Billy-Ray was stunned as her body slammed into his.

Calamity reared straight up like a cobra and hauled Billy-Ray with her, firing off punches that hit like a jackhammer, then dropped the barely conscious Sanguine to the floor to cuff him. "You're under arrest, and don't fight these cuffs. They bind your power."

"You- adept and Elemental, not fair." Billy-Ray slurred in response.

"No, I'm just better than you." Calamity said as they hauled him back outside to the car and Sam chuckled. Calamity had learned from Elementals how they manipulated the elements and applied it to her Adept ability.

She couldn't manipulate the elements quite the way they could, but could move through them as naturally as she did the ground or anything else. It was why she hit like a truck, she could tunnel her arm through the air and her fist hit with the power of all the air that had to go somewhere. He'd seen her tunnel through fire water, smoke, anything and everything and he wondered if she knew just how powerful she was.

She didn't need the six guns she wore low on her hips. The Pennsylvania hellcat was a living weapon and Sam reckoned he liked that about her just fine.

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 **What? My girl likes hitting people.**


	3. BBQ and Skeletons

A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, but Sam and Cat are my babies. Thanks go out to **Hellsgun ED** for reviewing!

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Calamity hummed to herself as she worked the barbecued pulled chicken with her tongs. She had smuggled in both mole paste and Jack Daniels barbecue sauce and had made good use of her free time hunting down a grill that Valkyrie didn't mind her using at the mansion. Valkyrie was away on a case with Skulduggery, so she had the place to herself. "Is she talking to you, honey?" A gentle voice asked and she turned to see Sam.

Calamity smiled to see her best friend and partner. "Maybe. How can you tell?"

"It's written all over your face." Calamity smiled again as Sam came over and helped her rise from her hunkered down position over the small grill. "They do make grills in larger sizes, you know." He said as he eyed the small but dependable bucket grill, trying his best to not stare at her unseen companion. Sam had second sight so he saw her ethereal companion quite clearly before she faded away.

He also strongly suspected she was still there, but didn't press Calamity on it as he saw to the spiced coffee Calamity had also prepared. She'd answer when she was good and ready and he admired her for being guarded. She had second sight like him, he suspected, and when word got out people tended to want to take advantage of a body.

Calamity accepted her coffee with a grateful smile. "Yes, she's been around a lot lately. You know she likes you. She's also about a ferocious as a bunny. I have no idea where she gets her reputation from." Her lips lifted into a smile on the last words and he shook his head. Of course La Santisima Muerte behaved for Calamity, she liked her. But she could also be tough and push Calamity to face things she'd rather not to, and Sam would as soon unbury his past as he'd take up residence in the North.

He knew the smile came from a recent lesson and he also felt it was time he said something. "Whatever she's after you for, I suggest you give it to her." Calamity's hand went to her shirt and she touched the pendant Sam knew she wore.

"She wants me to ask you something, then she says I'll be happy to do as she asks. Sam, how did you save me from the fire?"

Sam nodded. He'd always wondered when she'd ask. "I didn't. I was trapped under a flaming beam. We were both done for. Then she appeared. And I don't mean like we can see her with our second sight. She appeared. And she lifted you up from the flames and you were instantly healed. Then she pulled the timbers off me like they weighed nothing and carried us both outside, cradled in her arms. She put a finger to her teeth then she was gone."

"Black robe?" She asked and at his nod she slipped a small reaper ring out of her pocket and put it on. "She's tired of me hiding her. Sam, probably half the stuff I do is her helping."

"I know and there's no magical law against it." Sam looked at Calamity thoughtfully. "And now that you've got her out in the open, I suspect you're going to see a lot of good changes in your life."

"Life is such a strong word. Sam, I asked to see if you'd confirm what she said. Sam, I died in that fire and she brought me back. Sam..." She trailed off and touched her locket again and her skin flowed back and away and skeleton sat smiling calmly at Sam. "Surprise?" Calamity tried and Sam shook his head.

"I already knew. She'd hushed me, but I knew. It's why she gave you that pendant. I'm sorry you had to figure it out on your own and face it. I would've helped you, you know. You're still my partner and best friend. Even if you are a Yankee, Cat."

"Very funny."

"Besides, I've been waiting on the perfect time to tell you myself." Sam touched the bolo tie he wore and the two skeletons contemplated one another in amusement.

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 **Yankee Cat is another name for Maine Coons and a play on Cat's last name.**


	4. Skeleton Express

A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Billy-Ray or Skulduggery, but Cat and Sam are my babies. Thanks go out to **Hellsgun EmmortalDead** for reviewing. This chapter is set a little after the last chapter and set after the books so Val is in her 20s at least.

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Valkyrie gasped, trying not to panic. The spooky old castle they'd been investigating has also been a ruined old castle, and though her powers had saved her when a wall suddenly crashed down on her, she was trapped in a tight space, and she didn't like tight spaces. There was a rumbling sound and she felt fear go through her. Was the whole castle going to collapse and bury her?

She tried really hard to calm herself as the rumbling increased, but she couldn't repress a scream when two arms closed around her and she was drug underground. "Easy, Val, it's me." It was Calamity's voice and Valkyrie twisted in her grasp to cling on, making the older Adept chuckle. "We'll have you out of this old ruin in a jiff."

Valkyrie had no idea what a jiff was, or who we were, but she assumed Cat meant Sam. "Is everyone else all right?" She asked as they traveled, not failing to notice that unlike Sanguine, Cat opened a nice, wide space for them and a light attached to her belt made it seem downright cozy. They also weren't getting soil on them and Valkyrie wondered if Cat was just stronger, or just disliked getting dirty.

Cat grunted. "Sam should be OK, and he will have grabbed Skulduggery. I think it's safe to say the lead to this castle was a trap. Hang on." Valkyrie didn't need a second invitation. She clung on as they surfaced, Cat keeping her arms around Valkyrie until her shaky legs would support her.

"Sorry, tight spaces." She said, looking up to apologize as Cat let her go and she gasped to see a skeleton in Cat's black cowboy outfit looking at her in concern.

"What?" Cat asked, then immediately felt for the pendant Valkyrie noticed she wore all the time. It was missing, so was the small silver ring Valkyrie had noticed Cat wearing earlier. She hadn't got a good look at it, but as Cat cursed then started staring at the ground as if she could see through it, Valkyrie's mind flooded with a million questions.

Like how could Cat eat? And breathe? And pass off as warm and living? "Be back directly." Cat told her with a sigh, tipping her Stetson to her. Valkyrie watched her dive back underground, coming up moments later with the ring and pendant clutched in one bony fist. Cat slipped them on, whatever the type of façade she had was flowing back out over her bones.

"Can Skulduggery get one?" She blurted and Cat looked at her questioningly, then seemed to realize she meant the pendant and her gaze softened.

"I don't know, sweetie. I'd rather not drag the two of you into anything..." She fidgeted with her ring and Valkyrie at last realized it was a silver reaper, surprisingly delicate in detail. Cat gave her a grimace in reply. "So now you know. I can't make promises on her behalf and I don't even know how my necklace works. But you know something? She never said it was a secret or something I had to keep."

Cat removed the necklace and approached Valkyrie, putting it in her hands. "I'm giving it to you as a wedding gift, no strings attached, if she wants payment, I'll handle it. He deserves some happiness and I reckon I could use the diet." Valkyrie swore the skeleton winked at her and she smiled in reply, hoping Skulduggery would agree to wear the pendant.

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 **Cat is sweeter than honey on biscuits.**


	5. Skeletons Ever After

A/N: I don't own Valkyrie or Skulduggery and no one owns La Santa, but Sam and Cat are still mine.

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Calamity was at peace with her choice. Skulduggery had not only accepted the pendant, a skull-shaped silver locket but as soon as he'd put it on he'd swept Valkyrie into his arms for a lingering kiss. Happy tears rolled out of Calamity's eye sockets and she wiped at them as Sam, none the worse for wear from his adventure, put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They make such a wonderful couple." Cat managed as she turned to face him.

"And he has a perfectly good idea." Sam said, then pulled Cat close, adjusting his bolo tie so that his own skin was gone and he could kiss her teeth to teeth. The sensation was distinctly odd, but wonderful and Cat melted intro his embrace, nuzzling Sam happily when they parted.

"I had no idea you felt the same way." She said, resting her head on his shoulder and Sam chuckled.

"Probably would've told you eventually, but what you did, what you gave up..." He trailed off and Cat knew he was worried. He was frightened of La Santisima, though he had no reason to be. She had helped them both, never demanding payment other than Cat staying in her service and being more public about it.

"She won't hurt me, you know that, or him. She isn't after you to serve her, is she?" Cat asked and Sam shook his head no. "Well, there you go."

Skulduggery and Valkyrie came over to them, tears in Skulduggery's eyes that Cat and Sam pretended politely not to notice. His velvety shook slightly when he spoke from emotion and they pretended not to notice that too. "You have no idea how much this means to me. To be alive again, or whatever I am now?" He trailed off questioningly and Cat shrugged.

"Alive is such a strong word. You can eat, you can breathe, you'll be warm to the touch, you'll seem like everyone else. Other than that I can't tell you." Skulduggery nodded and Cat fell into an easy silence. He could figure out the rest on his own.

Valkyrie cleared her throat. "I'd say we should go out to celebrate but-" She trailed off as a second pendant appeared around Cat's neck, this one a hooded skull and her flesh flowed over her bones again. "Then I guess we all have a reason to celebrate." Valkyrie finished faintly and Cat nodded, sending a silent prayer of thanks to her patroness.

The couples got into the Bentley, Sam helping Cat in with a courtly gesture that made her smile softly at them. _Thank you, for everything._ She said silently as she touched her new pendant. She had a new pendant now, she had Sam by her side in the way she'd always hoped to have someone, and now? Now she'd been able to give Skulduggery a new lease on life, or undeath, or whatever you called what they were.

She settled back into her seat, almost sleepy from the pleasant warmth of the car and the feeling of euphoria that was flooding through her. Sam put an arm around her and she settled into his shoulder, thankful they had not only saved their friends but that they had at last admitted to one another how they felt.

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 **Aw. As always, let me know if you want more.**


	6. Whiskey and Coffee

A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery or Geoffrey, but Sam and Cat are my babies. Thanks go out to a **Guest** for reviewing. This chapter takes place right after the previous chapter.

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Valkyrie looked at Cat as the three friends got served their coffee while Sam got a libation of another sort at the bar, happy she'd found Sam at last. "How did you two become the detectives you are now again?" She asked. Cat had never told her, but she thought that since they both knew Skulduggery's story, which got better every time he told it, that it was OK to ask theirs.

"Well, I was investigating an abandoned mansion in the South.." Cat paused, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"You went in alone?" Valkyrie asked.

"Yes, I didn't have a partner at the time..." Cat trailed off again, frowning thoughtfully. "That can't be right. But it is, I went in alone." She paled slightly and glanced over at Sam who was at the bar sipping Jack Daniels, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was the object of discussion. "Valkyrie, I went in that mansion alone, I'd swear to it."

Valkyrie felt a shiver pass over her. "Maybe Sam is also a Sensitive of sorts, like Geoffrey." She tried. "Maybe there's just something from before that he didn't want you to remember." Skulduggery kicked her under the table. "I mean, maybe you two had a fight or something and you broke up as partners so he made you forget." It was the worst explanation ever of a suddenly appearing partner and she knew it.

"Or he made me remember a past as partners that we never had." Cat said, staring at the table. "Val, do you remember exactly how you were told you were going to meet us at the airport? Think carefully."

Valkyrie frowned and Skulduggery answered. "We were told to expect one detective, not two. When you arrived together you said you were partners, remember?" He was prodding gently to help Cat remember, and Cat nodded.

"Then who is he? The memory of him being in the fire with me seems real, so does our past as partners. And he knows everything about me. He is real right? You two _can_ see him?" That Valkyrie could answer.

"He's real and he's either your partner or a fraud. If he is a fraud we need to figure out what he's after. Here he comes, try and act natural."

Sam had finished his whiskey and joined the others at the table, slipping an affectionate arm around Cat and nuzzling her, and she covered her ducking away with a muttered: "You smell like Jack Daniels and cigars."

Sam frowned slightly. "Never bothered you before." He looked at Cat keenly and Valkyrie knew she had to distract him. She let her hand jerk suddenly, knocking both her and Cat's coffee cups over, managing to splash all four of them. Cat got up with a perfectly executed dismayed shriek and the women departed the table to go clean up in the toilets.

"Maybe we shouldn't leave Skulduggery alone with him." Cat muttered as Valkyrie manipulated the coffee out of their clothes and into the sink after wedging a garbage can against the door.

"He'll be OK." Valkyrie reassured her but when the women emerged and returned to the table Sam and Skulduggery were gone.

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Plot twist!


	7. Forgotten Memories

A/N: I don't own Skulduggery or Valkyrie, but Sam and Cat are my OCs. Thanks go out to **Myalarne Phoenix** for the follow.

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The women stopped dead, unsure of what to do, but their waitress, bringing their food order, waved them over. "Your friends said to tell you they will be right back." She said helpfully and Cat nodded as they sat down. She was starting to remember Sam now, starting to remember all about him. And as the men returned and she caught sight of him, the memories put themselves neatly in order.

She rose and caught Sam in a hug, a silent apology for ever doubting him and he seemed to understand from the comforting hug he gave her in response, but it was the kiss he gave her when they sat back down, sweet and understanding, that made Cat realize that he knew she'd remembered how they had met. She turned to Valkyrie, her lips twitching into a smile at the look of shock on her friend's face.

"You want to hear a story? Once upon a time a detective was investigating an old abandoned mansion in the South. It was on a perfect night too. The light of the full moon streaming in the large windows, the scent of flowers from the overgrown garden outside scenting the air, and all around her she saw evidence of great wealth and perfect taste in decorating the mansion with only the finest things."

They began to eat their burgers and fries and Cat continued. "And as she came into the main hall there hung a portrait of the gentleman who'd owned the house centuries before. She instantly fell in love with the handsome gentleman, dressed in white who reminded her exactly of what a Kentucky Cornel should be. For he seemed like a kind man, and to her he was a hero."

Sam picked up the story. "And she spoke to the painting, told the gentleman how handsome he was, called him Cornel, told him how beautiful his home was. She especially admired that beneath all that wealth and show was part of the Underground Railroad, her real aim of the investigation. And she was so kind to be there, to want to help the troubled spirits left behind, that the gentleman in question, a shade himself, fell in love with her."

Cat smiled at him and finished their tale. "A friend of theirs was also present, as she always was. And when the investigation turned tragic she united the pair, granting the gentleman a little while longer on the earth."

Valkyrie nodded as they finished and Cat supposed it made sense to her. Skulduggery had come back himself, Sam had just had a little help. She wondered for a moment how she could have forgotten that night, how she could have thought they had went in as partners, but she knew very well why. Sam wanted to be as human as possible for her, as alive as possible. He hadn't wanted her to remember that he was a shade walking around in what she hoped were his own bones.

 _Not that two of us at this table have room to comment._ She thought dryly as the friends moved on to other topics. Still, now that she remembered she wondered if it would change things. She'd told Valkyrie that Sam had been given a little while longer on the earth. _Does that mean_ , she wondered uneasily, _that his time is running out?_

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 **Thought you might enjoy a cliffy.**


	8. The End?

A/N: I actually do own Cat and Sam. Thanks go out to **jcat** for reviewing.

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Cat looked at Sam as he drove her back home after the dinner with their friends who had a case to attend to. Now that she looked at him in the moonlight he looked pale, almost a touch ethereal. "Sam, how long?" She asked nervously and he grunted and gave her an irritated wave.

"Don't be worrying about things beyond our control, Cat."

"Sam!"

"I told you not to worry! Now hush. I didn't come back from the grave just to watch you fold up the first time things got tough. We both knew we wouldn't have long together. We knew that. All I wanted was for you to enjoy what little time we had without grieving over me."

"But- But we've only had a few months." Cat protested, hoping it would somehow buy them more time as Sam pulled up to the mansion and turned the car off.

He turned to her, looking more and more transparent. "No, please, no. Don't leave me, not now." Cat begged and Sam smiled fondly at her.

"Now you hush. Iffen there's a way I'll be back with you directly, you know that, my little Yankee Cat." He whispered faintly, then leaned forward and Cat felt a cool whisper touch her lips, then he was simply gone. She sat there, trapped between her grief and rage, but finally managed to get out of the car and stormed into the mansion, grabbing a hammer out of the toolkit in the hall closet and storming into her room.

She walked to her closet, drug out her suitcase and grabbed the statue hidden inside. She raised the hammer, intending to smash the statue in her grief, even if she knew it wasn't La Santa's fault, then dropped the hammer and clutched the statue to her, crying as though she'd never stop.

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 **The End?**


	9. Out of Darkness

A/N: I don't own Skulduggery or Valkyrie. Sam and Cat are mine though.

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Sam woke up from his latest nightmare with a gasp and sat up shaking. He was on one of the couches in one of Skulduggery's living rooms and at first the detective thought the figure across from him was Skulduggery, but it couldn't be. Skulduggery was meditating in the next room. Then the figure raised his head and as he took off his fedora Sam could make him out clearly. Sam gulped but the man's handsome features moved into a benevolent smile. "Bad dreams, Sam?"

Sam nodded. His patron was known for sometimes instigating nightmares through the sheer power of his presence, but he didn't think it was the case this time. Still he explained the dream and the god across from him listened carefully. "Is it an omen? Will she be left alone?" Sam asked worriedly.

"No. You're gifted Sam and you saw what could be if you two parted. It's a metaphor, not an omen, your disappearance was symbolic. I came to you because she won't listen to me anymore. Tell her the dream, just don't mention my name."

"Why?" Sam asked. Loki, far from the monster shown on the silver screen was a benevolent and giving god, even if he was also a trickster.

"She chose to embrace the lies about me, knowing better, she embraced them. I had no choice but to become the dark and twisted thing she saw me as. That was not what I wanted, but she used it as an excuse to leave me."

"That doesn't sound like the Cat I know." Sam said. "I trust you, Loki, you know that. But Cat only hates one person on this earth, herself. If she walked away from you it was in atonement and you know that."

Loki looked thoughtful. "That would explain the uptick in her web research on me lately. When she's ready, tell her the truth, Sam. Tell her I never left her, even for an instant."

Sam nodded then talked to his patron on other matters before Loki took his leave. Sam got up to see to coffee, mulling things over. _A lot of the old believers are leaving the Gods_. He thought with a sigh. And they were as one diety after another was sucked into the Hollywood film machine and actual practitioners ran away from their gods when the influx of new believers arrived. _Loki was just another casualty and La Santa Muerte will be next if she isn't already._

"Si." Said a gentle voice behind him. "I was dressed up as a lolita film version of myself and now I have fanart." Sam turned to see La Santisima, for a moment taking the animated version of herself on with a laugh. "But it is mostly a good thing. We reach new people any way we can."

"Like your trying to reach me?" Same asked as he gestured for her to join him for coffee.

"No, I only call those who will love me. You already have a la flaca to love. Who is worried that you don't love her for now being a skeleton." La Santisima sipped her coffee. "Good coffee. Take her some. And ask her to remember me. Since finding out her true nature as a living skeleton she feels too ugly to approach me. Me, La Santisima Muerte, of all the gods." The skeletal goddess shook her head sadly. "Do this as a favor to me if you would. It won't hurt if you pass on Loki's name either. She needs to know he still loves her, Sam."

With a sweet thank for the coffee and company Santa Muerte vanished, leaving Sam to do as she asked, putting the remaining coffee in a thermos and driving to the mansion to find Cat up and waiting for him outside. Cat ran to him and clung on tightly.

"La Santa said you'd be here. Is it true, Sam? Is it true you honor Loki?"

Sam winced inwardly. As much as he loved Cat he loved Loki as his patron a tiny bit more as was only right and proper. "Yes, Cat. I serve him. And so should you. Whatever you did in your past, stop making both of you pay for it. He needs you, Cat. You know that. And I need you too, but only if my little hellcat is ready to let go of her past and welcome both of us. We're a package deal, Cat." Sam fell silent, cursing himself. _Why'd I have to back Cat of all people into a corner?_

But when Cat pulled away he could tell she was amused. "So to get Loki back I have to take you, huh?" She asked and they both smiled. "Hm, a lifetime of missing him, or a lifetime of having you as my partner, hm." She said teasingly and Sam grinned then turned serious.

"He's frightened, Cat. He's frightened the mask is going to drop and you're going to see the real god, the real Loki, and he's not going to be enough for you. He's terrified you're going to leave him. That you're going to leave me." Sam spoke rapidly, the dream finally making sense. They'd shared the same dream and now he knew why. "He's terrified that at the end of the day you'll be gone and all he'll have left is his memories of you."

Sam watched Cat's reaction, he watched the tears come and he realized he'd been right about her all along. She'd sent herself into exile because she didn't feel good enough to be anywhere near Loki. He was everything to her and always would be. So she'd made up lies so very clever even she'd believed them and forced herself into exile. Not from lack of love but from a lack of feeling worthy of having that love returned. "He loves you, Cat. He's even willing to face loosing you forever just to see you again. Just for one moment. Can you please at least give him that?"

Cat trembled and shook with emotion before him and Sam knew there was a war going on inside her, the war that always raged there and he hoped for once she'd be merciful in victory and free herself from her self-imposed exile. That she'd stop judging and condemning herself because it wasn't her job, it never had been. Only one being, well, two to be precise could have any judgment of her whatsoever and thanks to his second sight Sam saw them waiting, waiting for Cat to be brave enough to step up out of Hell and enter the land of the living once more.

* * *

 **Maybe an episode of Dr. Who was involved and maybe it wasn't.**


	10. Into Light

A/N: Although I own Cat and Sam nobody but a fool claims to own Loki. The actual God, hon.

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Cat felt the majestic presence behind her but didn't dare move. She'd been punishing herself for so long she'd forgotten why she'd started in the first place. But he hadn't. She closed her eyes as he approached, felt him move around her, could smell the familiar scent he always carried as if he spent a lot of his time in wild and lonely places. "Don't close your eyes, I'm not a basilisk." There was warmth in the voice she'd longed to hear for so long so she cracked her eyes open, just a little.

Loki smiled in amusement then held out his arms. "Come home. You've been missed."

Cat started to cry and shook her head. "I don't deserve to come home. And I can't."

"Stop punishing yourself, stop punishing me along with you. They _lied_ to you, Cat. They lied to you because they feared and hated me. Me, the god who chose you. You can be with me. You were never wrong to be with me. Come home." Loki extended his arms again and Cat's resolve broke and she ran to her oldest and best friend and Loki laughed with joy as he clasped her to him, happy tears streaming down his face. "Silly girl. Thinking loving me could be wrong."

He picked her up and held her aloft as he spun around. "Me? A god who goes where he pleases? You were never wrong to answer my call. It's time your exile ends, Cat. I'm begging you. Me, a god, I'm begging you to come home." Loki set her down again gently, his eyes pleading with Cat to return. Because the truth of the matter was gods could chase humans all they wanted, but it was up to the humans to answer them.

Cat hugged him again tightly in response, burying her face in his chest, trembling like a newborn kitten. "But I let them separate us." she said as he caressed her hair soothingly.

"For a little while, my little Cat. What is a little while when we still have eternity on our side? You and me, together forever. Just say yes, just come home."

"But La Santa, Sam-"

"The more the merrier. Just don't shut me out, not anymore." Loki snapped his fingers and a golden cuff with ancient symbols appeared in the palm of his hand. "It was never stolen. I borrowed it for a little while. To have a piece of you near me in my exile. Yet," He placed the cuff on her arm tenderly, reverently, "My dearest and most deluded Cat, I've never been away from your side for an instant. If there is one thing I'm good at, it's camouflage."

Cat knew then. He'd never left and she started to cry again and Loki held her tightly as he used to. "Don't cry. It's still me. Standing right in front of you like I've always been. We've never been parted, not even for an instant. Still," And here his voice caught, "I need you to respond. Please tell me you're coming home."

"I've been punishing myself this whole time for a crime I was never guilty of." Cat responded slowly. "There was never any shame or evil in serving you. You're my god, you always have been. You're the one who chose me and I chose you. Come home? Loki, don't you realize that in my heart I never left?" Loki smiled at her through his happy tears and folded Cat back into his comforting embrace and it felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders.

She'd never committed any crime, ever. Yet she'd been punished by those around her and condemned for answering the call of one of the old gods. A god, who even though she'd sent herself away from had never left her side, even for an instant. He'd been there, clever god that he was in endless disguises.

And now they'd be together forever as it was always meant to be.

* * *

 **Aw!**


End file.
